GF nears Corporate Center I sale

The City of Grand Forks is one step closer to finalizing the sale of the Corporate Center 1 building.

The Growth Fund Committee has approved the sale of the downtown building for just over $5.7 million dollars. Current tenants Alerus Financial…Brady Martz…and The Law Firm have agreed to buy Corporate 1 – and assign the rights to a third party.

City Attorney Dan Gaustad admits the formula used in coming up with the purchase price reads a little like an algebra problem.  “The complexity isn’t the operations or exercise.  The complexity started with how do we interpret this purchase price provision in the operating agreement.  The layer is the tenants want to assign the building and lease it back.”

Corporate Center I & II were built after the 1997 flood.  The city used a combination of CDBG and EDA grants and local bonding to fund the construction. Corporate Center II was sold in 2021 for $2.5 million dollars.

The sale still needs to be approved by the Grand Forks council meeting as the JDA. The deal could close in December.